Having just done one room and working on another with Laminate, I've
imbedded some comments:

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

He is a hack. That is the cheap way to do it and it will look like
crap. A real pro will remove the baseboard and replace it when done
and you can re-finish it in the garage at the time the floor is
going down.

DO NOT remove the nails. Clip them off with dykes from the back side. It you
pound them out, they'll create gouges in the surface that you'll have to go
back and re-fill with plastic wood. Before replacing the baseboard, mark the
floor with a pencil showing the location of the studs. That's where you'll
be putting the nails.



710 feet times $3 is not $4000. If that is just installation, he
should be supplying your choice of KY or Vaseline too.

I did 400 feet with economy laminate from Lumber Liquidators at $0.78/sq ft.
Plus a bit for the vapor barrier material. All told, less than $1.00/ft


Before you go another step, stop and re-think things. Look at
installing engineered hardwood instead of laminate. It is real wood,
not some fake looking stuff.

I agree. For four grand he could get engineered wood. In my application -
couple of spare bedrooms with worn-out carpets - the laminate was more than
ample.

Unless you have physical limitations,
consider doing the job yourself. It is really not very hard and
required minimal tools. A $99 miter saw is good to have for the
cuts, otherwise, a few hand tools and glue are all that is needed.

You can easily cut laminate with a miter saw. SOME engineered woods
(parquet) have wire in them which doesn't work so well with a rotary saw
(need a jig saw). This stuff goes together like a big, two-dimensional, Lego
set.